Who is she? Who is she that shines at night Glittering, as upon a stage? Who is it that braves the crowds Every day on the local train? Who is the lady who hides a breast Under her sari as her child feeds? Who is the woman wildly reaching For the alms you throw at…
Tag: poem
B: Blotchy : Messy
I always hated to stay Between the lines The lines on the page The lines of my face My colours splashed Outside the box Messy, they called me, And messy I stayed. I had my share of trouble Straying from the lines The lines that life drew Confining me in walls I will not be…
A: Amusical: Tone Deaf
I would give and arm and a leg To play the piano for you again. You would lie back on the sofa And my little fingers would pick out the tune. Alas my fingers are now too soft The notes just squiggly shapes Music beaten out of my life By choice, or was it compulsion?…
Timeline (photographs)
Scrolling through timelines I realise how we mentally compartmentalize Events in our head. Look at these pictures… That was the last dinner we went for together Here is the wedding the year after Ma died. See those are of the first vacation without her, This was the last holiday with Baba. It’s funny How the…
Leaving Pune, March 2020.
Ater the clouds have been folded and put away, All that remains is the moonlightThose stacks of linen, cool white sheetsThat smell of sunshine and your smiles.I look outside the portholeWatching clouds bathed in whiteThe memories that escaped, refused to be launderedScattering in wisps of bitter sweet delight.What is with the full moon and I?Those…
Corpses
We are all dying here, some slower than others The corpses that mattered are calling out to us That phone you bought will not reach the network Where the corpses that matter are claiming us. The man crossing the road out of sight, crosses Not knowing how far is too far, how far Till we…
To Amisha (Someday Rapunzel)
Someday Rapunzel will chop off her hair And leap into the forest, undeterred by thorns That lay waste the garden outdoors The garden she never knew up close The garden just beyond her reach. And She will taste the wild berries and learn not to gag She will explore under shrubs and trees and hide Among…
To Mesho (returning from Kalimati Jn. a.k.a. Tatanagar)
I don’t like how you lie there But your eyes search me out Looking for a familiar face Among a sea of servants. I like the way you talk Memories from the old earth Your youth, my father, the stories That scramble to be heard. I watch you as you try To lift those atrophied…
Y: Yielding #NaPoWriMo
That stone you trip over on your way out Is just the tip of something buried under Our marriage eight thousand odd days old. I know each arc of your words You know how I bare my soul. That stone will not be dug in our lifetime It’s where our eight thousand odd habits lie…
W: wanting #NaPoWriMo
I want to lie down and catch drops of snow in my mouth and not worry about the cold I want to lose myself in the branches Hiding from voices calling me home and not worry about dinner to be made I want to howl back at the moon and leap at the…
V: Vibrant #NaPoWriMo
Where are the flavours of summer? Surely lost in the tart stickiness of the mango Or the cloying sweetness of jackfruit Buzzing around the house like fruit flies. The crickets chirping in the trees Music coming as from a lifetime away As gulmohor blooms scatter restlessly Unanchored in the evening breeze. Who is it who…